U.S. Department of Labor Issues Two Wage and Hour Opinion Letters on Fair Labor Standards Act Compliance

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced two opinion letters that address compliance issues related to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). An opinion letter is an official, written opinion by the Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) on how a particular law applies in specific circumstances presented by the person or entity that requested the letter.

The opinion letters issued today are:

• FLSA2020-19: Addressing whether certain travel time occurring on a partial telework day is compensable under the FLSA.

• FLSA2020-20: Addressing whether certain overtime payments based on an expected number of hours worked may be credited towards the amount of overtime pay owed under the FLSA and whether such overtime payments are excludable from the regular rate.

“The Wage and Hour Division remains committed to providing clear guidance and compliance assistance to workers and employers,” said Cheryl Stanton, Wage and Hour Division Administrator. “The opinion letters we issued today demonstrate that commitment and provide clarity to ensure workers are paid all the wages they have legally earned and employers compete on a level playing field.”

Those interested can search the WHD website for existing opinion letters by keyword, year, topic, and other filters. The Department also encourages the public to submit requests for opinion letters to WHD to obtain an opinion or to determine whether existing guidance already addresses their questions. The Division exercises its discretion in determining whether and how it will respond to each request.

With today’s release, WHD has now issued 71 opinion letters since Jan. 20, 2017.

WHD’s mission is to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and enhance the welfare of the nation’s workforce. WHD enforces Federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor requirements of the FLSA. WHD also enforces the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the FMLA, wage garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, and a number of employment standards and worker protections as provided in several immigration related statutes. Additionally, WHD administers and enforces the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act and other statutes applicable to federal contracts for construction and for the provision of goods and services.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.